Can Lawyers Work From Home? And Should They?

Lawyers work in many different places, such as courthouses, jailhouses, client houses, conference rooms, job sites, client offices, on their way to meetings, etc. With so many different settings it comes as a surprise that most people don’t think about lawyers as professionals who work from home, but they definitely do. 

Most lawyers work from home to keep up with their massive workload, and they have done so since the early days of their profession, the only difference is that these days attorneys can choose to work from home because there are really no technological impediments that would make it necessary to go into an office, and because it is simply more convenient for them. 

Working from home is not exclusive to solo practitioners either. Lawyers who work for big legal firms can also reap the benefits of working from their own home. There are now large legal firms that have moved their business entirely online. 

Of course image and prestige are very important for clients when they are looking for legal representation. But working from home doesn’t necessarily mean that lawyers aren’t able to convey a professional, reliable, and capable image to their prospective clients. 

All it takes are the proper tools and any lawyer can work from home, or any place they might choose really. 

Attorneys working from home would benefit greatly from having a virtual office for example. This allows them to use a professional address at a well known office building, and have their name on the lobby directory, instead of having to use their home address. 

They can also receive all their mail at the virtual office, use this address for business licensing or registration and market their law firm address on search engines and internet directories, which in turn will help to attract new clients.

Another benefit is being able to book a fully equipped meeting or conference room for client meetings or presentations, or reserving a private office for a day whenever they need to.  

Lawyers who work from home can also greatly benefit from hiring a virtual receptionist service. The basic idea is to free up the attorney’s time by having a professional answer every call that comes to their business phone number. 

They are able to answer in a personalized manner, they can forward and screen calls thus protecting lawyers from wasting time with robo calls and spam. Some virtual receptionist services are able to set up appointments on the lawyer’s behalf, as well as perform administrative tasks. 

As you can see there really is no reason why a lawyer shouldn’t work from home, as long as they have a robust framework behind their business, whether virtual or traditional. 

About Andrés Sanjose

Andrés Sanjose is a writer and editor based in Guatemala. He previously lived in Berlin for 10 years where he witnessed the birth and amazing evolution of the Virtual Office phenomenon, while working as a freelancer in the german capital. He is very interested in what the future holds for this exciting industry and loves to write about it.